Refrigerating apparatus



Feb. 20, 1940. L. A. PHILIPP 2,190,995

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 12, 1937 INVENTOR. LflWAEEME 1?. PHIL/PP B wgflakk ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 20, 1940.

UNITED] STATES 2,1,995 aamoaasrmc arrsaarus- Lawrence rmupp, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Maryland Application November 1a, 1937, Serial No. 174,211

a 2 Claims. (of. 02- -13 This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to refrigerating ap paratus of the-household type.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a new and improved arrangement for refrigerating a refrigerator cabinet.

Another object of my inventionlate a refrigerating apparatus iincluding'primaryiand secondary refrigerating systems and "to good contact between the refrigerant evaporator of the primary system with the of the secondary system by providing *a body of'free'zable liquid between these heat transfer devices so that the liquid may be frozen to a solid mass for conducting heat from said condenser to said evaporator.

Another object of my invention is to provide a refrigerating apparatus including a refrigerant cooling element arranged within a cabinet so as to'divide the interior thereof into a freezing compartment and a compartment for the storage of foods to be refrigerated and soarranged as to efficiently refrigerate said compartments at different temperatures in a new and improved manner.

ice cubes, desserts and the like and for condensing evaporating refrigerant in said flrstevapo rator whereby saidnrst evaporator. may be operated at temperatures above that whichiwouldbe likely to cause the formation-of "ice and frost on its outer surface due to'moisture deposited thereon by the circulating. air'in the food compartment.

Further objects and advantagea of the present invention will be" apparent-from the 1 following description, reference being' had to the accompanying drawing, wherein: a preferred form of embodying features of my invention} Fig. 2 is a view shown partly inelevation and partly in cross section, taken along the line 2-2 ofFig.1: i

Jig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in' cross section, taken along the line 3-4 of Fig. 2:

Fig. 4 is a view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of refrigerating apparatus'embodying features of my invention.

- 1 Referring to the drawing, there is shown a refrigerating apparatus of the household type, 7 comprising in general a cabinet 20 and a re- 6 frigeraliing, system 2!, which system is adapted! 'tojemciently refrigerate, at different temperacompartments 28 and 24 of the cabinet refrigerating system: 2i consists of a refrlgerant condensing element 26, and a refrigerant' cooling element 21. The cooling element 2?, as shown, is horizontally disposed within the cabinet 20, dividing theinterior thereof into the compartments 23 and 24. This cooling element consists of' a refrigerant evaporator 29 for cooling compartment 23, and a second refrigerant evaporator 30 for cooling compartment 24. v

The evaporators 28 and 30 are thermally connected so that evaporator serves to condense evaporated refrigerant in evaporator 30. With this arrangement evaporator 29 may be operated to produce lowtemperatures in compartment 23,

I in which compartment substances to be frozen,

- Z such as desserts and ice,,may be stored/while .25 Another object of my inventionis to provide .aq'f" refrigerating apparatus including a refrigerant evaporator for refrigerating a foodstorage compartment and a second evaporator for freezing the second evaporator 30 may be operated to -;produce higher temperatures in compartment 24 suitable forrefrigerating foods, and yet at temperatures above that which would be likely to cause the formation of ice and frost on its outer 30 surface due to moisture deposited thereon by the circulating air in the food compartment. 1

The cabinet" is preferably constructed of heatinsulating walls including side walls 3|, top

. wall 32, rear wall,33, bottom wall 34 and front 35 wall 35. The. inner walls of the cabinet areformed by a metallic" liner 31. Preferably the liner 31 is provided with a coating of vitreous enamel, such as porcelain, to provide neat and finished appearing walls which maybe easily cleaned. The inner lining 31 is formed about the side walls 3| and the rear wall 33 with an inwardly extending channehshape flange 39, on which the cooling element 21 is supported. An outer metallic casing 40 encloses the walls of the cabinet. In the front wall 35 is provided an opening 4| through which the compartments 2! and are accessible A hinged door 32 is provided for closing and'iopening 3|.

The condensing elementg26 includes a motor compressor unit 50, condenser 52 and motor driven fan 54. It is understood however that any suitable condensing unit may be used. In the chosen unit the compressor withdraws gas eous refrigerant from evaporator 29 through so conduit 5'8, compresses the refrigerant and. delivers it to the condenser wherein it is liquefied and from which it is delivered to evaporator 29 through conduit 60 under the control of high side float 62.

Preferably the condensing unit is intermittently operated and in order to control the operation of the unit any'suitable thermostat of the well known types may be used. The thermostat may be arranged to be responsive to changes in temperatures in evaporator 30 or evaporator 29 or the circulating air in either compartment 23 or 24.

Evaporator 29' may be employed for support- .create partial pressures therein to thus render the secondary system less effective to transfer heat from the secondary system to the primary evaporator 29.

The entire system is readily removable from the cabinet because the entire system is secured to a removable wall portion 68 which permits the system to be slid forwardly through opening 4| from the cabinet.

In orderto provide an apparatus including primary and secondary systems and have provisions for readily removing one system from the other and yet have good thermal contact between the two systems during operation thereof I have provided the apparatus shown in Fig. 5.

In this figurewall H corresponds to wall 3| of Fig. 1 and evaporator 13 corresponds in all respects to evaporator 29 of Figs. 1 to 4. However in Fig. 5 evaporator 15 is somewhat different than the secondary evaporator 30 of Figs. 1 to 4. The evaporator 15 is also the condenser of the secondary system and includes two sheets of metal, namely, upper sheet 11 and lower sheet 19. The upper sheet 11 has an upturned flange which extends around all four peripheral edges to form a basin 8|. This secondary evaporator or system 15 occupies the same space in the cabinet as does evaporator 30 and forms the ,top wall of the food compartment the same as evaporator 30. I

' By the above arrangement the evaporator 13 may be readily removed from evaporator 15 since the flange 80 need not be secured to evaporator 13. All that is necessary is to slide the unit out of the cabinet opening 4| as described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4 and the evaporators 13 and 15 are readily separable. 4

In the operation of the device shown in Fig. 5 it is essential that there is good thermal contact between devices 15 and TI and in order to accomplish this I fill the basin 8| with Water so that there is water extending between and in contact with the entire bottom wall of device 13 and top wall of device 15. When this water freezes by the-action of evaporator 13 there is provided a very good thermal contact for conducting heat from the secondary system to the primary evaporator 13.

' Although only a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated, and that form described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein .without departing from the spirit of the invention or.from the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I

l. Refrigerating apparatus comprising a cabinet, a primary refrigerating system readily removable from and insertable into said cabinet and including a refrigerant evaporator, a secondary system positioned in said cabinet in close proximity to the evaporator of said primary system and a substance positioned between said evaporator and secondary system to be influenced by the condition-of the primary system so that it becomes a frozen mass under certain operating characteristics of the primary system to provide a solid as the sole heat conducting element between the primary and secondary systems and a liquid when the primary system remains inoperative for a certain length of time under which latter conditions the primary system may be readily removed from the cabinet.

2. Refrigerating apparatus comprising, a cabinet, a primary refrigerating system, readily removable from and insertable into said cabinet and including a refrigerant evaporator, a secondary system positioned in said cabinet in close proximity to the evaporator of said primary system, and a congealable substance positioned between said evaporator and secondary system which is adapted to be maintained in a frozen state by the action of said evaporator thereby providing a solid thermal bond of uniform heat conducting characteristics as the sole heat conducting element between said evaporator and said secondary system, said substance being liquifled .only after said evaporator has been inoperative for a certain period of time under which condition the primarysystem may be readily removed from the cabinet.

- LAWRENCE A. PHILIPP. 

